They don't pay me enough to serve jerks who come to my till with my light off.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

I'm quite irritated and annoyed at some of the sloppy, messy, retarded busy days where I find it difficult to close my till and I have my light off with the close sign on my scanner trying to close as more and more inconsiderate fu#kheads are coming to my line in the far distance. I would tell anyone who came to my line-up with my light off to go to another till but I get a dozen more people who just lined up giving me nasty faces as they walk somewhere else! The people who invent the tills.... Drive me up the wall with dingleberries in my beard! Why can they have the lettering (OPEN) on the signs and have that light up instead of the damn number. I hate stupid busy days where theres no end and people are willing to wait as far back as fashion just to get through the tills! They don't pay me enough to put up with people who act like a$$holes who come to my till with my light off and close sign on my scanner and demand that I serve them kind of attitude!! :rant;

[powerboy]

I got that when I was working at Office Max. Granted we don't have lights on our tills, but we do have open/closed signs. Once I jumped on one, because all of our lines were long. Then when I was able to close, I got complained at by the customers. Well hell, I am not suppose to be on at all, as I was a floor walker. But when there are long lines, I am going to help out. I also got in trouble by the managers. The tills were right on the dot, when they balanced it, but I only got in trouble because even tho I am trained on the register, I am not suppose to get on at all

[Lace Neil Singer]

I also hate that, however I refuse to serve anyone who tries to get on my till once it's closed. Once the sign goes up; that's it. Fin. Anyone who approaches my till after the sign goes up will get a polite "Sorry, I'm closed". I absolutely refuse to serve anyone after that, don't care how much in a hurry they are, cuz at the end of my shift I've had enough and want to go home.

[terana]

I guess I'm pretty lucky with this, as I hardly ever have people who try to come through when I'm closed. I work the tills when we are busy but I try to get off as soon as I can so I can get back to my area and do my job. Most of the people around here actually look at the lights and pay attention to the 10 items or less signs which is kinda funny since after 11 or midnight the only till open is the 10 item or less and they have a huge cart full. If they try to find a till and its closed they well stand at the end and give you the "puppy dog eyes" look and ask if your open or if you can take them real quick.

[HYHYBT]

Why can they have the lettering (OPEN) on the signs and have that light up instead of the damn number.

They can, of course, but it doesn't make any difference. The Kroger I used to go to made exactly that change: they replaced the light-up number area with a metal, painted one and put a bubble on top that said "open". Now, I didn't work there, but from what I saw shopping there regularly it changed nothing. And of course, if it *had* worked, everyone would do it

[rerant]

Tills should have a green lighted sign saying Open, which can be switched to a red lighted, significantly brighter, flashing, rotating, screaming sign that says C-L-O-S-E-D!

[Shengirl]

I always thought they should have a sign that said, "FREE!" in big letters. And below it, "Just kidding, wanted to let you know this register was closed." That would certainly catch their attention.

[LadyAndreca]

It's a problem that all cashiers face. Customer logic dictates that if there's a person at a register, that register is open.

Yesterday, though, was surreal. My team lead accidentally shorted out four register lights attempting to fix one that didn't work, one of which was mine. I didn't notice for about ten minutes because it wasn't busy so I didn't notice my lack of a line. When I DID notice, my lead was still freaking out and trying to fix the lights, so I just asked her if I could go to lunch since I was due for it anyway.

But when I came back, no one would come to my line. I'd be standing in front of my lane, greeting people, inviting them into my line...but no matter how backed up things got, I'd have to go GET people from other lines to ring them up.

Most days, I can't get rid of people in my line when my light's off for a reason!

[cinnamaniac]

Oh, i hate this so much. they do it at the grocery store i work for all the time.

The worst scenario was this:

I'm no longer a cashier, as I've been promoted to office book-keeping at the grocery store. I do that every day except for Sunday, as I am a front end on Sundays.
So, part of the front end's job is to clean the registers at the end of the night after cashiers go upstairs to be counted out. It was around 8:45 pm and the store closes at 9. I'm behind the register with yellow rubber gloves, paper towels and cleaning solution, cleaning the scanner. This lady comes up.

L - Lady
M - Me

L: Uh, are you OPEN?
M: Sorry Ma'am, I'm not a cashier.
L: I didn't ASK you THAT. I ASKED if you were OPEN.

and she rolled her eyes and walked away.

Wouldn't logic tell you that if I responded to you that I'm not a cashier, then I would not have a register to be open? I answered your question, you just didn't want to listen. Had I just said "no, I'm not open" I'm sure that would be prompted with a "why not?" or "can't you just take one more?" when I don't even have a till to take anyone in the first place.

For some reason, people at supermarkets and other places always do this. They see full lines, then come over to a closed one and say "Are you open?". Yes, I'm open, there just happens to be lines full of people over there and an empty register just for you over here. Then when you say you aren't they get so mad, as if it's your choice to be closed. As if you can just open back up at will.

Also, at our store, when we have to prepare a home delivery of groceries for a customer that just checked out, we shut down the register temporarily so the cashier can pack the boxes. People see this and know it and will either a) put their stuff down anyway and get huffy when it takes a while for the cashier to re-open the line or just stand there and hover between and open register and the delivery one so that they can jump right on it when it re-opens. Occasionally, we get a customer that doesn't mind the wait, puts their stuff down and waits patiently, but when you huff and try to rush me? I purposely take longer to pack the boxes. I'm not going to just throw the customer's groceries into a box without any organization, just because you think you're too good to wait on line.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

, but when you huff and try to rush me? I purposely take longer to pack the boxes. I'm not going to just throw the customer's groceries into a box without any organization, just because you think you're too good to wait on line.

Ha, Methinks the Sc's are trying to hide something or have done some illegal activity. That's the right thing to do because we should keep these suspicious people afloat as much as possible!

[Gravekeeper]

Tills should have a green lighted sign saying Open, which can be switched to a red lighted, significantly brighter, flashing, rotating, screaming sign that says C-L-O-S-E-D!

I'm thinking something more akin to a NOD Obelisk. If you come anywhere near it the red light gets brighter and hums. Then you have about 5 seconds to step back out of range before you're struck by the cruel light of judgement and it incinerates you. You then run around the store screaming while on fire for 10-15 seconds before collapsing in a charred heap in the dairy aisle.

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

They sell those now?? Can I get a personal one for... er... security purposes?

[Andara Bledin]

I'm thinking something more akin to a NOD Obelisk. If you come anywhere near it the red light gets brighter and hums. Then you have about 5 seconds to step back out of range before you're struck by the cruel light of judgement and it incinerates you. You then run around the store screaming while on fire for 10-15 seconds before collapsing in a charred heap in the dairy aisle.

Yeah, that would be great.

Well, until some other SC ignores the signs that you put up to keep people from slipping in the ashes of the incinerated SC, slips, doesn't actually get hurt, but when you won't give them the free stuff they demand, then they raise a huge stink, complain to corporate, and then sue you anyway, even after corporate kisses their ass and gives them free stuff for being a loud-mouthed jackass.

^-.-^

[StrawberrySqueeze2]

We don't have lights at our registers where I work, but we will have a message on the screen that says register closed. For some reason, we accept debit/credit cards, but only on one register.

One Sunday morning, the debit/credit register wasn't open (we only keep one register open on weekend mornings until 1 when the night cashier comes in). So some idiot comes into line saying he wants to pay with his credit card.

Damn kids need to learn to carry either their student ID with their meal plan/FLEX dollars on it or need to bring all cash as well.

[Shengirl]

Out of curiosity: If you only had one register open, why wouldn't it be the one with the credit card machine? That sounds like just asking for trouble.